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My chat w/Rosie Perez…

Our telephone interview was for a column I’m running next month connected to the DVD release of the film “The Take” but I had to jump the gun with some of the other things we talked about.
I told Rosie that as much as I have enjoyed her performances in such films as “Fearless” (for which she was Oscar nominated) and “Do the Right Thing,” I especially love seeing her as a guest on talk shows.

“I love it too!” she said. “I remember the first time I was on with Arsenio Hall and I was so nervous. I was shaking and he just held my hand. The pre-interview went out the window because my mind went blank and I just started talking to him.”

And so began her popularity as a guest on the talk show circuit.

“David Letterman is one of my favorites. Every time I go, I still get nervous. But it’s electric.”

So what does Rosie think makes her such a hit on Letterman and other shows?

“I feel that maybe it’s because I’m Latin I feel like l’m holding court in my living room with my family, telling jokes and having a ball,” she said. “I forget about plugging stuff. You just gotta have fun. I love to entertain.”
I also wanted to know how her Broadway experience was last fall when she starred in “The Ritz” in the role Rita Moreno played in the 1970s film version.

“It was exhilarating,” she said, “and the hardest thing I ever did. I thought I was gonna die. I dropped 10 pounds – it made me look fabulous by the way! Doing farce is very challenging.”

She remembers going home after rehearsal one day and the Marx Bros. movie “Duck Soup” was on.
“I love the Marx Bros. and I just burst into tears wondering, ‘How did they do it? The timing was impeccable.”
But she was able to pull herself together and triumph during her Broadway run.

I reminded Rosie about a very funny story she had told about an expletive-filled phone message she had gotten from Rita Moreno when she took the role in “The Ritz” that ended with the remark, ‘And change your f***** phone message!”

She said that, ironically, she is planning to see Moreno perform in New York this week: “I was talking to her husband, Lenny, and this is the first time since the phone call, to tell him I would be there Saturday night. And (Rita’s) in the background saying, ‘Who’s that?’ ‘Oh, hi Rosie!'”